This was Alex Rodriguez’s signature Yankee moment. This is what he can do for a team. In an instant, a week of bad starting pitching and three years of a New York roller-coaster ride can disappear with one perfect swing.
This is a different A-Rod. I’ve been writing that since spring training and yesterday Rodriguez showed the world just how different, blasting a Reggie Jackson-like ninth-inning, two-outs, two-strikes, game-winning grand slam, the kind of shot you remember for the rest of your life.
And it was done with an effortless, unburdened swing.
The titanic blast lifted the Yankees to a 10-7 victory over the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, the ball landing in the black backdrop of center field.
It didn’t win a World Series, but the grand slam won a vital game in the first week of the season. And maybe, Alex Rodriguez has won the hearts of New Yorkers.
“Maybe now people will get off his back,” third-base coach Larry Bowa told me.
Can the fans now get rid of that ridiculous mentality that A-Rod has to hit a home run or come through in every at-bat or else be booed out of the ballpark? This is not “American Idol.” Look in the mirror, fans. You are not Simon Cowell.
On this remarkable day, Rodriguez hit two home runs and a double. He piled up six RBIs. As he danced around the bases after the slam, those remaining from the crowd of 50,510 fans roared. Rodriguez nearly knocked over Bowa with a thunderous high-five along the third-base line and then tossed his helmet in pure joy.
A-Rod was mobbed at home plate by teammates. After he came out of the pack Johnny Damon tried to lift him up in celebration, “but that was a bad idea,” said Damon, who is battling a calf strain.
A-Rod did not need to be lifted in the air, he was already flying. So what is that moment like at Yankee Stadium, the most glorious of all ballparks?
“I love it,” A-Rod said. “The energy, it’s crazy, one way or another. Every night it is always exciting.”
That is something Rodriguez cannot get anywhere else. The booing has not beaten him down. It has made him stronger. In four games, A-Rod has nine RBIs, three home runs and a slugging percentage of 1.056. The walk-off grand slam was the third of his career. He’s only the third player to do that. He owns 467 home runs.
“He’s a super player,” Bowa added. “Every night it’s about his at-bat; nobody talks about the at-bat before or the at-bat after and it’s a shame because sometimes you don’t appreciate what you have.”
A-Rod appreciates being in New York. He’s in his opt-out year but this is a place he enjoys, so don’t count him gone just yet.
There is enough love here for Derek Jeter and A-Rod. Five hours before he hit the grand slam, Rodriguez was telling me in a quiet corner of the clubhouse how much he loves the city, how much his wife loves it here, how she has grown to appreciate so much about New York.
Yesterday, New York loved Alex Rodriguez.
A-Rod soaked it all in, taking a curtain call after being pushed out of the dugout by Jeter.
“We needed this one,” he said of the victory.
“It felt awesome,” he said of the magic trip around the bases. “Felt like Little League.”
That’s what A-Rod has done this year. He’s wearing his socks high, he’s having fun. He has turned baseball back into a game. He has unburdened himself and his swing.
He won’t come through every time in big moments, but he’s putting together great swings more often than any other time in his Yankee career. No player can make it happen every night, no matter much money he makes. If there were such a player he’d be a machine. A-Rod is human like the rest of us.
He just has a lot more talent than most people who have ever played this game. Once you understand that, you understand what Alex Rodriguez is all about.